Wednesday, January 04, 2006

They've complained, rightly, that all of the Jews in the film are either reluctant murderers or eager ones. They've cataloged the distortions and omissions: Golda Meir is cast as reluctant to hunt down the terrorists — which she wasn't — while Spielberg leaves out the fact that Germany forced her hand by releasing the terrorists in its custody, virtually declaring that slaughtering Jews on its soil was once again not a crime, etc, etc.

I didn't know the bit about Germany releasing the terrorists. Here's Wikipedia's corroboration:

On October 29, a German Lufthansa jet was hijacked and demands made for the release of the three Black September members being held for trial. Safady and the Al-Gasheys were immediately released by Germany, receiving a tumultuous welcome when they touched down in Libya and giving their own first-hand account of their operation at a press conference broadcast worldwide. Some commentators suspect that the German officials quickly released the terrorists out of fear that the Germans' own shortcomings and mishandling of the hostage crisis would be laid bare at a trial.